My photography hero, James Balog, has a new documentary out called "The Human Element"

I just heard James Balog talk about his new documentary on NPR's Fresh Air. The documentary, The Human Element, follows James Balog capturing the effects of climate change. I haven't seen it yet, but I need to soon! Who has seen it? And who is going to see it?

Why's this one special? There have been plenty of great climate change documentaries released in the last few years. BUT THIS IS JAMES BALOG. He's before his time. He devoted a huge portion of his life to documenting glacier melt through multi-year time-lapse photography. Climate change disbelievers were doubting scientists reports that ice is melting, so he gave them undeniable evidence in the form of time-lapses. He developed timelapses devices and traveled the poles for years maintaining them. Chasing Ice is the documentary that represents that body of work.

As a photographer, I'm truly inspired by him. I want my photography to have an effect on people. James Balog is a prime example of that. His insane passion, hard work, and determination has played a leading role in convincing the world that climate change is real, and that politicians need to do something about it.

Glad I was able to recommend them. Since you haven't heard of James Balog, I recommend this video. His crew captured the largest glacier calving event in history. In the video, you'll see ice blocks the size of Manhattan rolling around. To me they look like giant alien ships coming out of the sea.

1) His narration, both in tone and content, was beautiful. He was able to talk about such a devastating subject in a calm and peaceful way. It made me want to take action instead of turn off the TV and ignore the disasters that are happening.

2) As the movie poster image suggests, he broke the stories around climate change into three sections air, water, and fire. It was brilliant way to look at it, but I felt that forces of nature were a little over-simplified.

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